A White House petition requesting that dentist Walter Palmer, who killed a prized lion in Zimbabwe, be extradited to the African nation to face justice should receive a response from the Obama administration.

Brent Stapelkamp dismissed reports that the lion had been killed, saying a GPS device on Jericho didn't suggest anything out of the ordinary. Furthermore, the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, which told CNN and other media Saturday that poachers had killed Jericho, retracted those statements on Sunday.

The head of the conservation task force, Johnny Rodrigues, said in a new statement that the erroneous information was the result of mistaken identity. Rodrigues said that another lion had been killed, something that CNN cannot immediately verify.

As proof of life, Oxford University tweeted a photo of Jericho, taken by Stapelkamp early Sunday morning.

The erroneous reports of Jericho's death elicited strong reactions on the heels of the killing of his ally, Cecil. Cecil's death at the hands of a lion hunter sparked international outrage because he was a protected animal. Zimbabwe is seeking the extradition of American dentist Walter Palmer, who is accused -- along with at least two others -- of illegally hunting the lion, authorities said.

"We apologize for reporting that (Jericho) had died but were confident that our sources were in fact correct," the conservation task force said in a Facebook post Sunday.

Cecil and Jericho have been referred to as brothers, though David Macdonald, director of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford, said the lions were not blood relatives.

"They were not related, though their bond was one close to brotherhood," Macdonald said in a statement. "Male lions often form what are termed co-operative 'coalitions' with unrelated males in order to better compete with other males for territories and prides."

Jericho is apparently caring for and defending Cecil's cubs, and the survivability of those cubs would have been imperiled if Jericho had indeed been killed.

Cecil, who was killed in early July, mated with about six lionesses and had about 24 cubs, Rodrigues has said.

A White House petition requesting that dentist Walter Palmer, who killed a prized lion in Zimbabwe, be extradited to the African nation to face justice should receive a response from the Obama administration.

Jericho the lion is alive and roaming his park habitat in Zimbabwe, the Oxford University researcher tracking the lion confirmed on Sunday.

Brent Stapelkamp dismissed reports that the lion had been killed, saying a GPS device on Jericho didn't suggest anything out of the ordinary. Furthermore, the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, which told CNN and other media that poachers killed Jericho, retracted its statements on Sunday.

The head of the conservation task force, Johnny Rodrigues, said in a new statement that the erroneous information was the result of mistaken identity. Rodrigues said that another lion had been killed, something that CNN cannot immediately verify.

As proof of life, Oxford University tweeted a photo of Jericho, taken by Stapelkamp early Sunday morning.

[Previous story, published at 6:33 p.m. ET Saturday]

Conflicting reports emerged on whether Jericho, the brother of slain Cecil the lion, was also killed Saturday in an illegal hunt in Zimbabwe.

Johnny Rodrigues, head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, told CNN that a hunter illegally gunned down Jericho in Hwange National Park.

The task force also reported on its Facebook page that Jericho was killed at 4 p.m. local time.

Later, however, an Oxford University researcher tracking Jericho told CNN that the lion was alive and moving as of 8 p.m. local time Saturday, based on the GPS data from the animal's collar.

The GPS device didn't suggest that Jericho was killed or that anything was out of the ordinary, said Brent Stapelkamp, a field researcher who is part of a team tracking Jericho in Zimbabwe.

At a minimum, the conflict over Jericho added to the angst in the wake of Cecil's killing, which provoked an international outrage because he was a protected animal. Zimbabwe is seeking the extradition of American dentist Walter Palmer on accusations that he and others illegally hunted the lion, authorities said.

The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force was emphatic on its Facebook page when it declared Jericho dead.

"It is with huge disgust and sadness that we have just been informed that Jericho, Cecil's brother has been killed at 4pm today," the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said.

"We are absolutely heart broken," the Task Force added on the Facebook posting.

Jericho was considered to be caring for and defending Cecil's cubs, but the survivability of those cubs seemed imperiled if Jericho had indeed been killed.

Some of the cubs may have been Jericho's, said David Macdonald, director of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, who has been studying Cecil.

Male coalitions, often between brothers, oversee prides of females in lion society and protect them from threats posed by outsider male lions, the scientist said.

But if Jericho were killed, the cubs' chance for survival "is probably gone," said Dave Salmoni, an apex predator expert for Animal Planet.

Jericho's death would seal "the fate of these cubs, for sure," Salmoni told CNN.

Cecil, killed in early July, mated with about six lionesses and had about 24 cubs, Rodrigues has said.

James Schoenfeld received life sentence for his part in largest mass abduction in US history

Nearly 40 years after receiving a life sentence for his role in the largest mass abduction in U.S. history, James Schoenfeld -- one of the three infamous Chowchilla school bus kidnappers -- will walk out of a California prison this week a free man.

The California Parole Board moved to grant the 63-year-old his freedom in April, at Schoenfeld's 20th parole hearing since his 1977 conviction on 27 counts of kidnapping, according to Luis Patino, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Gov. Jerry Brown -- who was in his first term as governor at the time of the chilling kidnappings -- had 120 days to decide whether he'd intervene by sending the case back to the parole board, but when that deadline came and went late last week, Schoenfeld's release became imminent.

No ordinary hijacking

On July 15, 1976, 26 Dairyland Elementary School students were returning home after a day of summer school in Chowchilla -- an inland farming community some 40 miles north of Fresno, California -- when their bus was commandeered by Schoenfeld, his younger brother Richard, and a friend, Fred Woods.

But the armed gunmen, who wore nylon stocking masks, didn't just hunker down afterward and make ransom demands -- this was no ordinary hijacking.

The captors -- men in their 20s from well-to-do Bay Area families -- made the entire bus and all of their hostages disappear for days.

According to reports, it was early evening when the trio stormed the bus and took it to a nearby drainage ditch where they hid it in a thicket of bamboo. The 27 hostages -- 26 students and bus driver Ed Ray -- were then divided into two vans and driven for more than 11 hours to a sand and gravel quarry owned by Woods' family.

The captives were forced to descend below the rocks and gravel into an underground bunker fashioned out of the trailer of a moving truck that the kidnappers then entombed in dirt, according to the Fresno Bee.

The cell was about 8 feet by 16 feet and was crudely ventilated, but was stocked with water, snacks, a flashlight and mattresses, according to media reports.

Ray, who passed away at age 91 in 2012, said "there was a lot of crying and begging for mama," according to a New York Times obituary. "(The children) kept hollering and saying, 'Why did they do this to us?' I'd like to know, too," he said shortly after the ordeal.

Daring escape

Although the kidnapping itself was executed with terrifying precision, the plot, it seemed, was never fully conceived, because the three captors were bested by Ray and the children -- aged between 5 and 14 years old -- before ransom demands were even made.

After several hours in the bunker, Ray and the older children began stacking the mattresses in a way that enabled them to access the roof of the truck. Once there, they were able to tunnel their way above ground. The entire escape took place as the Schoenfelds and Woods napped, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The students eventually returned to their families on July 17, 1976 along with Ray, who enjoyed a hero's welcome.

A legacy of nightmares

The Chowchilla kidnapping is a frightening scenario that is perhaps unfathomable for most students, parents and teachers in an era of hyperconnectivity, where cell phones and wifi-equipped school buses mean students can communicate just as easily with the world outside as they can with person sitting right next to them.

But it was 1976, well before such technological luxuries existed.

Although none of the 26 children were physically harmed by the Schoenfelds or by Woods during the affair, the trauma they endured still persists for many of the victims, who are now in their 40s and 50s.

Jennifer Hyde is one of them. She said she was nine years old when her childhood ended on that bus in Chowchilla.

"You couldn't just go on and have a normal childhood when you faced a life-threatening situation like that. You just can't go on and be carefree," she told CNN in 2013.

Hyde said she still sleeps with a nightlight on, and won't ride a subway or go anywhere underground.

While Hyde remains a prisoner of fear, James Schoenfeld will join his brother Richard -- who was paroled in 2012 -- in freedom no later than Wednesday, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Fred Woods will then be the last of the Chowchilla kidnappers behind bars. The 63-year-old will have his 15th parole hearing on November 19, according to Patino.